Nordic Games, the Austria-based publisher that made headlines when it acquired the rights to the the likes of Darksiders, Red Faction, Titan Quest and MX vs ATV during publisher THQ's bankruptcy proceedings, and has now reportedly acquired the actual trademark to the THQ brand itself.

Speaking to Polygon, Nordic Games DM Klemens Kruezer noted shortcomings with the brand recognition of Nordic itself and hinted at plans to publish future Nordic games under the THQ name:

"It was kind of surprise to some industry veterans and players that we were the winner of the auction of the THQ titles," Kruezer said. "The challenging fact is nobody has ever heard about Nordic Games before [the THQ auction]. There were so many articles with the headlines ‘Who the fuck is Nordic Games?’ We said, okay they were right.

"We have seen an uplift in the name of Nordic Games, and what we have also done is we have made a second deal with THQ where we bought the THQ trademark."

THQ was never really a brand associated with quality products, and probably doesn't have the nostalgia that other re-appropriated labels like Atari carry.

More people would recognise it than the name Nordic, but would that really translate to improved sales? Perhaps it was going cheap.